Richard Nixon has observed what he
calls the "dangerous deterioration" of U.S.-Soviet relations
from the melancholy vantage point of someone who believes he could have
prevented it if it had not been for "Watergate and all that."
Under the banner of détente, he was the last President to conduct a
coherent and largely successful policy for managing the rivalry between
the superpowers. During his six years in office, Soviet mischief making
in the Third World was more restrained than it has been since. The
Soviet leaders opened the door a crack in permitting...